Silver Linings
by padfoot4eva
Summary: After 4 Privet Drive is destroyed will Harry find a home with Remus?


Silver Linings 

A/N: yeah I seem to be on a writing binge… but I hate to say it won't last long… I have a HUGE paper due soon and I have managed to lose all my notes already.

You'll have to excuse this story cuz I think it is weird, I mean I like it so I am posting it but its got big words in it, and I mean weird big words… cuz I went thesaurus crazy… well I think its cool but ya'll may not (every time I write 'ya'll' it makes me realize how Texan I am I mean no one else on this site says ya'll…its stupid, of course everyone says it where I live so its hard to stop) just tell me what you think!!  

If someone decided to visit the small house of 4 Privet Drive they would recognize straight away that not all was right inside the habitually unobtrusive brick house. Now however it was far from inconspicuous. The giant glittering skull that hovered eerily over the home of Mr. & Mrs. Dursley was far from ordinary; in fact it was downright frightening. 

The only person in the near vicinity of the house who appeared calm, or at least retained some common sense instead of taking part in the panic that had ensued when people found that Mr. & Mrs. Dursley were dead, their bodies lying in the usually well-groomed front lawn, was a one Harry Potter. Not someone very well known in the otherwise perfectly-normal-thank-you-very-much neighborhood. Actually most people who normally came to call on the Dursley's were very much unaware of his existence. 

To say that he was calm was not to say that he didn't care about the deaths of his only relatives, for the Dursleys _were_ his only living-relatives. Harry Potter happened to be very upset, for as much as he despised the Dursleys, he had never wished for them to be murdered, but they had been murdered. The Dursleys had died at the hands of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard to have ever existed; of course the people in the street knew nothing of Voldemort. They were muggles and this was a secret that wizards all across the country have worked very hard to keep from them. 

Staring at the horrendous skull that still remained floating over the house, Harry Potter thought vaguely to contact someone from the Order of the Phoenix, a group of wizards and witches working under the great Albus Dumbledore to fight the dark and protect the light, but of course they were probably already aware of the situation. 

Sure enough Order members began to arrive just as the police were showing up. Harry recognized a few of them to be Nymphradora Tonks, Remus Lupin (whom Harry was particularly glad to see), Kinglsey Shacklebolt, and Molly and Arthur Weasley. The rest Harry had not met before.

 Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt went with the Order members that Harry did not know to begin the process of modifying the memories of the many people surrounding the dead bodies. To Harry's relief Remus, Molly, and Arthur headed towards him, no doubt to comfort him though Harry knew that comfort was not what he needed, comfort was what he needed after the shock of Sirius' death finally sunk in, unfortunately comfort was something he was completely devoid of during his lonely days at the Dursley's. No, right now he needed answers, now he could try to get some. 

Molly rushed right up to Harry enveloped him in a big bear hug then sensing that Harry was not going to talk to her she let go of him, allowing Arthur to hug him as well, and then they left to assist the others in dealing with the dark mark and the now very confused muggles, leaving Remus and Harry alone. It seemed that Remus too had decided that talking was not what Harry wanted to do, so he just put a hand on Harry's shoulder and stood by him. But Harry still needed and answer to the question that had been troubling him since finding the Dursleys dead on the lawn after a night out in London. Deciding that he might not get another chance to ask he looked up at Remus.

            "What will Voldemort gain by killing them?" he asked.

Remus looked quite taken-aback, clearly this had not been what he expected to hear from someone who had just lost the last bit of family they had, but he tried to answer the question anyway. 

            "I am sure you are aware that being near your relatives protects you, even though they may not have held you in the highest esteem, the fact that they were your relatives was enough to invoke the ancient charm that would keep you safe in their presence, with them gone, there is one less defense for Voldemort to break through. And you no longer have a place to spend the holidays, killing two birds with one stone." 

Now that this question had been answered, another was raised, where was he going to stay? Grimmuald Place was fine for a few weeks, but he couldn't possibly stay there for the rest of the summer. He was not even a week into the summer holidays and was all of a sudden with out a place in which to reside prior to his return to Hogwarts. He voiced his thoughts to Remus, who in turn assured him that they would find a solution be it temporary or permanent. 

Molly and Arthur rejoined them after taking care of the muggles and the Dark Mark. 

            "Good to have that taken care of ,now, Harry I am sure you know how to use a portkey," Arthur said removing a small ball from his pocket, Harry nodded, "I don't doubt that you wish not to use one again but we cannot floo from here and apparating is too dangerous and flying is downright stupid, so please forgive me but we had no other options." 

Harry just nodded and placed a finger on the portkey and braced himself for what was to come. All too soon he felt the now very familiar jerk from somewhere around he navel and was whisked off to Grimmuald Place.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The surprise death of the Dursleys found the entire Order of the Phoenix at an emergency meeting in the dining room of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. A place to which Remus Lupin had vowed never to return. Unfortunately important meeting such as this could not be forgone just because of the memories found within the dreaded house. So braving the memories of his best friend Remus returned to Grimmuald Place.

The first matter of business for the Order was to provide Harry Potter with a place to stay, Grimmuald Place being used as a last resort only.  

            "You know we would love to have Harry with us. Our home is always open to him." Molly said. 

Remus knew how much she loved Harry; he also knew how much Harry would love to spend his summers with his best friend. So it came as quite a surprise when Dumbledore rejected Molly's kind offer.

            " I know you adore Harry, but I also know that as much as you want to be a family for him, what Harry really needs is a family of his own." 

So to no ones surprise except Remus' all heads turned toward him, even Snape seemed to be part of this silent confession. This was something Remus definitely had not counted on. He was very much unfit to care for a teenager, especially one he knew would not want his fate decided for him. He was probably the last person Harry would ever wish to live with. Not to mention the fact that he was a werewolf. To have Harry stay with him would be a risk that he did not think the Order would be likely to take. 

            "Remus, would you be interested in taking care of our young Harry? Don't doubt yourself, Harry looks up to you more than you know. You are blind if you cannot see how much he loves you. I know that you two need each other with the tragic events of late." 

Remus shuddered involuntarily before answering Dumbledore doubtfully.

            "Sir, I believe you are making a mistake. I am in no way fit to care for Harry." 

            "Are you certain? Do you really think you are incapable of caring for Harry? Do you think you cannot be a role model for him? Stop doubting yourself, you are excellent with children, you have proven this through your short time teaching at Hogwarts. You have not forgotten what it is like to be a child going through dark times such as these, sometimes I think you have not fully grown-up, as you showed us when you and Sirius made such a mess at dinner that night."

Remus winced at the mention of Sirius. He new he needed to talk about it, but he was always retreating into the darkness of solitude, trying to escape his troubles, running away seemed easier. It always had, but Dumbledore of course had come up with a different solution to Remus' problems. No surprise there.

            "Sir I do not feel that this is such a good…"

            "Remus, you will try. If this arrangement does not work, we will come up with alternative solution. Now I believe we have kept the rest of the Order here long enough." Dumbledore directed himself towards the Order, " thank you for your patience you may leave. Molly, will you please get Harry? Remus and I need to speak with him." Molly nodded and left the room with the rest of the Order.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry knew the meeting downstairs was concerning him. After all he was one of the reasons the Order was reformed. He was more than a little surprised when he heard the telltale sounds of footsteps leaving the house so soon after the meeting began. Harry turned to look out of the window in the room he was in. he was so engrossed in the views outside that he did not hear Molly open the door, only when she cleared her throat did her presence become known to him. 

More than a little embarrassed at not realizing she was there he apologized and kept quiet and followed her when she asked. Knowing that he was going to discover where he would be staying with for the rest of the summer, he decided not to question what he was following her for and silently prayed he would like his new home, preferably the Burrow. But it was not Arthur Weasley standing by Dumbledore when they arrived in the room used for Order meetings, but Remus Lupin, and when Molly left the three of them alone, Harry knew who he would be staying with, and quite frankly he could not be happier. It was Dumbledore who first spoke.

            "Harry, you are to stay with Remus for the rest of the holidays. I assure you that the full moons will be taken care of and I hope that you enjoy each other's company. I have a meeting with the minister in ten minutes so I'd best be off. I'll leave you two to talk."

And with that he swept out of the room leaving one very worried werewolf and a slightly nervous teenager alone in the large stone room. 

            "So…" it was Remus who first broke the silence albeit not very well.

            "Yeah…" Harry had to admit his response wasn't very good either.

Remus had no earthly idea what to say, but knowing he had to say something worthwhile, he threw caution to the wind and began to speak… about everything. About how much he had always wanted for Harry to come live with him, how he knew they would have a great time, how he had a lake and an open field near the cottage he lived in and that he knew Harry would enjoy them, but most of all about how he wanted to be there for him. 

            "I never want to take the place of your parents or Sirius," he said nearly choking on the name. Harry winced, "but I want to be there for you when ever you need to talk, I have loved you since I first saw you almost 16 years ago, and now maybe we can get to know each other the way we should have if things were different."  

To Remus' great surprise Harry launched himself into his arms and gave him the biggest hug. When they let go of each other Harry looked up at him his eyes watering and said, 

            "I love you too."

Maybe we can still find happiness in this world, after all if we have so many dark clouds, we've got a lot of silver linings to deal with.

                                                                                                                        **The End**

A/N: I wrote this with the intention that it may make someone realize that even if you are going through a hard time it can get better…like divorce, step-family problems, new baby from the bitch that took over your dad's house, grandparents dying, and really good friends turning out to be gay so they will never live life without prejudice…actually I wrote it to make me feel better about all that stuff but it might help you too J REVIEW (as usual)


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